Barney's Blog

PDC Preview

Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference started today, and lots of goodies
are to be unveiled. Topping the list is pre-release Windows 7 code given to
all attendees. Microsoft is calling this code "pre-beta" (isn't that
what the word "alpha" refers to?).

Microsoft promises improvements to the Windows kernel, but I'm still waiting
to find out if there is, in fact, a new kernel altogether. I'll report back
on what I learn.

At the show, developers can bring their own code and see if it'll work with
Windows 7. I hope all the hardware guys bring plenty of drivers to try!

Microsoft will also promote multi-core (dual to eight cores) and many-core
(lots and lots of cores) programming. This way, apps can fully exploit the amazing
gains made by processors. The trick is that it takes a new approach to programming
and an awful lot of effort. Basically, you have to rewrite your apps from scratch
to use all of these cores. Here's
what I learned about multi-core after a month of two of research.